Posted by jamie — 4 December 2007 at 5:56pm
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At a side meeting of the Bali climate change conference today, Greenpeace launched
a new proposal that will encourage and reward countries for reducing emissions
from deforestation. It's long, complex and full of acronyms but with forest
destruction responsible for around one-fifth of our greenhouse gas emissions,
it could represent one of the best chances we have of slashing global emissions.
It tackles a
subject which is a big stumbling block in attempts to stop deforestation: money.
There's not enough of it, at least not in the right places. Most countries with
large tracts of forest, such as Indonesia,
Brazil
and the Democratic Republic of Congo, are still developing and see them as sources
of much-needed finance. Even though the link between deforestation and climate change is now being widely acknowledged, these governments
rarely have funds available to protect their forests.
Posted by jamie — 4 December 2007 at 3:37pm
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Last night, ITV News featured an excellent report from Indonesia about palm oil and how plantations are replacing forests at a horrific rate. Shown as part of a series of reports about climate change to tie in with the Bali climate change conference, it showcases some aerial footage which clearly shows the devastation. Also featured is Hapsoro, one of Greenpeace South East Asia's forest campaigners, who was working at the Forests Defenders Camp when he was interviewed.
If you missed it, the report is available to view online - confusingly, it's on the CNN website but only because the ITV News site is so darned tricky to use.
Greenpeace today launched a landmark proposal for reducing, and ultimately stopping, tropical deforestation.
The initiative was launched at a side event of the Bali Climate Conference, featuring the Governors of Papua and Papua Barat, the provinces with the largest intact tropical forests in Indonesia.
Greenpeace believes that finding solutions to ending deforestation must be a key objective of the conference for the following reasons:
Tropical deforestation is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, threatens biological diversity, and has devastating impacts upon forest dependent peoples. Human induced climate change is projected to cause significant adverse effects on tropical forests where there is a decline in precipitation. As a consequence it is vital that means are found to incentivise and reward reduced deforestation in order to assist in the task of preventing dangerous climate change and thus achieve the ultimate objective of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Posted by jossc — 3 December 2007 at 2:24pm
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If a week is a long time in politics, then is two weeks long enough for world leaders to finally get to grips with the single biggest challenge we all face - limiting the effects of global climate change?
The answer has to be yes, if only because the consequences of any other outcome would be unthinkable. The start of the 2007 UN Climate Change Conference (otherwise known as COP 13) in Bali today coincides with alarming reports that the tropical belt that girdles the Earth's equator is expanding - pushing its boundaries out towards the poles at a rate not predicted by current computer models, which anticipated such developments only towards the end of this century.
Posted by jamie — 21 November 2007 at 2:54pm
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As the international climate meeting in Bali hurtles towards us, you're probably concerned that it may turn into another one of those diplomatic exercises in generating a lot of hot air and the only benefactors will be the hordes of translators making a nice earning. But you can make sure that fingers are pulled out and tough action is taken by contributing to the Climate Message In A Bottle video.
President George Bush has today invited representatives of major industrialised and developing countries to a 'climate change summit' in September. Reacting to the news, Greenpeace's senior climate campaigner Robin Oakley said:
"It's a step forward that Bush no longer denies man-made global warming, but there has to be a concern that this is yet another attempt to derail the UN climate change negotiations set for December in Indonesia. Bush speaks about aspirational goals and voluntary targets. That's his vision and it's just not serious.
At a side meeting of the Bali climate change conference today, Greenpeace launched
a new proposal that will encourage and reward countries for reducing emissions
from deforestation. It's long, complex and full of acronyms but with forest
destruction responsible for around one-fifth of our greenhouse gas emissions,
it could represent one of the best chances we have of slashing global emissions.
